Local people are being urged to play their part and support health and care services following an incredibly difficult start to 2022.
Norfolk and Waveney’s health and care system remains in a ‘critical incident’ having earlier this week announced this status, following sustained and unprecedented pressure on services.
More than 620,000 COVID-19 boosters have been given across Norfolk and Waveney, with over 220,000 of these since 12 December 2021. That means that 83% of those eligible for a booster are now protected from becoming seriously ill.
People across Norfolk and Waveney, especially those 18-30 year olds who haven’t yet had their first or second dose or indeed their COVID-19 booster, are strongly urged to play their part in combatting the COVID-19 pandemic and helping us all get back to everyday life and adding to our local wall of defence.
The Covid-19 vaccination centre at the Castle Quarter Shopping Centre in Norwich closes on Sunday 9 January 2022 and is moving to the customer centre of City Hall, the headquarters of Norwich City Council. The entrance (fully accessible) will be via Bethel Street, Norwich NR2 1NR.
Mike Passfield, Clinical Operations Director for Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust’s large scale vaccination centres explained:
Cath Byford, Chief Nurse at NHS Norfolk and Waveney Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) said: “We can confirm that in Norfolk and Waveney the health and care system has declared a critical incident. Health and care services are under unprecedented pressure and we are working closely with our system partners and colleagues to keep services running and to create extra capacity to deal with the rise in demand for services.
We are seeing large numbers of very unwell people requiring 999 ambulance services and urgent hospital care. There are also ongoing challenges in discharging patients who are well enough to leave hospital, and we are seeing an increase in staff sickness - all of which leads to longer waits than we would like for patients to be seen and admitted.